


Only For Life

by ronsparkyspeirs



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombies, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Deaf Character, F/M, Mental Health Issues, References to Depression, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 08:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20690162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronsparkyspeirs/pseuds/ronsparkyspeirs
Summary: Beth’s just a girl with a crush and Daryl is a surly mechanic.





	Only For Life

She was born with her mark, tiny almost miniscule letters right below her right breast, right above the bones of her ribs. 

_ You say somethin’?  _

As far as romance goes, it’s definitely lacking but they’re sort of unique, and at least they’re not the generic greetings so many people have that make it almost impossible to distinguish a stranger from a soulmate. She appreciates the words, she protects them from prying eyes and always covers them up with a band aid if she knows she’s getting naked around someone. 

Not that she’s had any reason to get naked around people, per se, just her high school boyfriend, Jimmy. They had sex when she was a junior and he was getting ready to go away to college, Jimmy didn’t have a mark and she’d only done it because she thought it was the right thing to do. Needless to say, she hadn’t much enjoyed it and she didn’t bother to hide the fact, Jimmy broke up with her a week later and promised to keep in touch after he went away. He still texted her every couple of months from whatever adventurous place he was now visiting, he had a girlfriend with no mark and Beth thought she was pretty. 

The thing is, Beth is twenty-three, and she’s had a crush on the same guy for three years. Correction, she’s had a crush on the same  _ man,  _ since she was twenty. 

It was silly and it made her blush and be embarrassed any time she even thought about it, this she attributed to her lack of experience with the opposite sex; she had never even talked to him, for goodness sakes. Honestly, she felt a little crazy sometimes, she knew  _ way  _ too much about this man to have never spoken a single word in his direction. His name was Daryl Dixon and he worked at the auto shop in town, he had breezed into town on a motorcycle the month after she turned twenty and Beth had been stuck ever since.

It was ridiculous the way her eyes followed him anytime he was near, but she couldn’t help it if she found him attractive! He was tall and broad in the shoulders and even though most of the time his hair hid half his face, she could tell he was handsome. 

She had seen him helping older ladies with their groceries at the general store once or twice, and Beth had grinned all the way home. He’s polite too, he always says please and thank you and his voice is like gravel but it sounds like honey to her ears. And he’s older too, sure, at least ten years older than Beth but probably more like fifteen. 

Maggie knew about her crush and unfortunately so did her daddy, he’d grown suspicious when she started volunteering to take his truck into the shop anytime an odd sound was even so much as heard, she liked seeing Daryl work on the cars, she liked to see his big arms struggling with a wrench on a stubborn bolt. His arms would glisten and his hair would stick to his sweaty face and Beth could write novels about his looks alone. 

“Bethy, would your sudden interest in auto repair have anything to do with a certain mechanic at Dale’s?” her dad asked. 

Beth had stammered and felt her face turning a bright tell-tale red, “I—don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Does the name Daryl Dixon ring a bell?” 

She huffed and her lips had turned into a firm line, of course, it had to have been Maggie to say anything, who else. 

“I don’t know what Maggie said but—“ 

“Sorry doodlebug, I had to tell him,” Maggie said, her voice floating from somewhere in the kitchen. 

Beth had slumped her shoulders, chewing on her lip as she looked at her dad. 

“He’s a bit old for you, isn’t he?” 

“It’s not like that! We haven’t even— I haven’t even spoken to him!” 

Her dad smiled, and gave her the keys to the truck. Beth had practically run out of the house in her haste. She made good time, ran the truck up to the garage, she got out and Dale had already been waiting for her, a bright smile on his face. 

“Your dad called ahead,” he explained, taking the keys from her and leading her into the small air conditioned office where all transactions took place. Dale walks through the back door out into the open space of the garage where the mechanics work, there’s a couple of cars inside but he yells for Daryl. The other man looks up from under the hood of the small sedan he’s working on, a little furrow between his brows, and Dale waves him over. Beth watches him walk towards the office but he never turns to look her way, she can’t hear what they say but Daryl nods and Dale gives him the keys to her daddy’s truck. 

The older man walks back to the office, swiping a handkerchief across his forehead, “That’s Daryl, he’ll take good care of your dads truck,” he says. 

“Oh, I know,” Beth responds too quickly, apparently by the way Dale turns to look at her, a raised eyebrow that speaks volumes. 

“I mean, he’s fixed up our cars before,” she shrugs, going for casual but Dale smiles at her the same way her daddy did and Beth wonders if everyone can tell she has a big fat crush on Daryl Dixon. 

He tells her that the truck will be ready in a couple of days, and that she can come back for it whenever he gives her a call. Beth takes one last look out the window but doesn’t see Daryl anywhere in sight so with a promise to bring Dale some of her moms macadamia nut recipe cookies next time she comes around she leaves and starts walking back to the farm. 

Maggie had offered to drive her back but it’s only a twenty minute walk and she likes the scenery. Beth thinks about Daryl, and she wonders why she’s never seen him with a woman before. She also wonders if he even has a soulmark, it wasn’t that uncommon for people not to have one, it’s just something some were born with and others weren’t. Beth had always considered herself lucky, to have a soulmate out there, waiting for her, but she also knows that sometimes soulmarks aren’t all that great a thing to have. Sometimes people aren’t compatible no matter what some words say, sometimes people die before they get to meet each other and the mark slowly fades away, and sometimes people met and decided that they just didn’t want to be together. 

She thinks about the mark on her skin, and she thinks about Daryl again. Maybe her mark wasn’t meant to be, maybe meeting Daryl was what was supposed to happen to her in that instance, she couldn’t let some words dictate who she did and didn’t talk to. Perhaps she would never meet her soulmate, did that mean she couldn’t see other men? No, it certainly did not. With a renewed determination, Beth figured she would speak to Daryl the next time she saw him, and it didn’t matter if they didn’t say each others words, and maybe Daryl would only want to be her friend, but that was fine too. 

* * *

“So what are you going to say to him?” Maggie asks, laying on her stomach on Beth’s bed. 

“Well, I thought I would start with ‘hi,’” Beth responds, digging through her closet for the perfect dress. She wants to make a good impression even though she’s pretty sure Daryl has seen her around, and maybe she wants to look pretty too, but that’s neither here nor there. 

Maggie scoffs, “You’ve been making heart eyes at the man for the last  _ three years _ , you can do better than that.” 

Beth sticks her head out of the closet, “What should I say?” 

Maggie pretends to think for a second, then a devilish smile appears on her face and Beth is sure that she’s not going to like whatever comes out of her sisters mouth, “You could say something like ‘Daryl Dixon, you’re the hottest piece of man meat I’ve ever seen and won’t you please ravish me with those big ol’ arms of yours.’” 

“I can’t say that!” 

“Well, not  _ verbatim _ ,” Maggie tells her, still smiling. 

Beth rolls her eyes, “Not everyone can be as confident as you miss ‘My soulmate was delivered to me via a pizza place.’” 

It had become almost a joke the way Maggie had met Glenn. Her freshman year of college she’d ordered a pizza to her dorm and had come on to Glenn in a most provocative way, there had been a whole slew of porno jokes from their brother Shawn once he’d seen the mark on Glenn’s forearm. 

“Don’t knock a tried and true method,” Maggie says.

Beth decides on a beige colored dress with a lace overlay, it goes with her cowboy boots and she decides to leave her hair down. Just because he might not be her soulmate doesn’t mean she has to go looking frumpy to pick up her dads truck. Maggie insists on putting makeup on her.

“Just a little blush, c’mon, maybe some eyeliner?” 

Beth settles on the eyeliner and strawberry lip gloss. She looks cute and finally she feels ready to see Daryl, speak to him, even. She’s just glad her daddy is away at a veterinary convention in Atlanta, she’s not sure he would approve of her getting dolled up to essentially flirt with a man that might be twice her age. 

Maggie drops her off at the garage with a cheeky good luck and a grin and Beth makes her way inside the office. Dale isn’t inside, he had called earlier that morning but it was nearing lunch time so he was probably out getting something to eat. There’s a couple of guys loitering around the garage, some of them actually fixing the cars while others stand around talking, they’re taking advantage of the fact that Dale’s not around and Beth can’t exactly blame them, it’s hotter than anything else outside and the only things blowing air in the shop are a couple of old floor fans that only seem to circulate the hot air around. 

Beth spies Daryl bent over the hood of an old Chevy truck. She can’t see his face but she knows it’s him, he’s bulky and besides, there’s a red bandana hanging out his back pocket, the same one she’s always seen him carry around. She takes a deep breath and smooths out her hair, then her skirt, she checks her breath and walks through the door to the outside. 

A couple of guys stop and stare as she makes her way towards Daryl, and Beth would be blushing with the sudden attention if she wasn’t so focused on the man in her sights. He’s still bent over, body halfway in the hood, she sees and hears a little radio situated to his right, it’s playing a baseball game and Beth smiles because he doesn’t seem like a baseball kind of guy. 

He hadn't noticed her so Beth bends down, with the pretense of looking over the engine, she grins and says, “ _ Daryl Dixon, you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen _ ,” she regrets it immediately, she didn’t mean to say something so dorky but Maggie’s words had been floating around in her head and at least it would make for a funny opener right? That is if Daryl had even acknowledged it, he straightens up so fast she’s shocked he doesn’t brain himself with the open hood, looking at her like she grew a second head. He scowls and his eyebrow furrows and he’s just about to say something to her when the door from the office slams wide open. 

“Beth!” says Dale, interrupting whatever Daryl was going to say, “I’ve got your invoice in here.” 

Beth doesn’t hesitate, she speed walks back to where Dale is standing and doesn’t care how weird it makes her look, she just wants to get out of there as fast as possible. Daryl hadn’t said anything, in fact, he had looked at her like she was crazy, and Beth is very, very, very embarrassed. She can feel the heat crawling down her neck into her chest, Dale’s eyes widen when she almost barrels through him to get inside but thankfully he doesn’t say anything. 

Beth pays Dale with the money her dad gave her and when Daryl brings the truck around, she doesn’t even look at him, too ashamed to make eye contact. She slides into the driver's seat and pretends she doesn’t see him looking at her. When she arrives back at her house she sees Glenn’s car in the driveway and wishes he wasn’t there, she loves him but she doesn’t want any witnesses to the emotional mess she’s going to be in a couple of minutes. 

Any sane and normal person would be able to laugh it off, shrug their shoulders and go on with their lives but Daryl had been a part of her life for a long time, even if he didn’t know it. She liked seeing him around town, she liked having a little crush, something sweet and innocent to look forward to, it didn’t mean anything but it was a nice distraction from her otherwise monotonous life. But that had always been the problem with Beth, she felt too much, everything had to be turned up to a thousand or else it wasn’t real. She couldn’t deal with her grief and so she tried to kill herself after her mom died, she hadn’t enjoyed sex with Jimmy and therefore decided that her best bet was to remain single and unattached till she met her match. 

She liked her extremes, something her therapist warned her against. And now this thing she had in her head, that maybe Daryl and she could be together in some way, well, it was completely dead. She doesn’t think she could handle explaining all that to him, even if he decided against his better judgment to be her friend. 

She slides from the truck and makes her way up the front steps, she can hear Maggie in the living room and hopes that her sister can’t hear her entering the house. But it’s Glenn the one who spots her, he calls her name out and Beth is forced to stop her trek up the stairs and give him a weak smile. 

“How did it go?” Maggie asks, grinning from ear to ear. 

Beth shrugs, pretends she’s not as hurt as she actually is, “Not too well.” 

“Oh no, do you want to talk about it?” 

Beth shakes her head and before she can start crying makes her way up the stairs and into her room. She undresses quickly, putting her pajamas on and scrubbing the little makeup she had on off. She feels like a silly little girl, to think she could make someone interested just because she wore a dress and some drugstore makeup. 

She falls into one of her depression naps and doesn’t get up till much later. She goes downstairs to grab something to drink only to find Maggie already in the kitchen. 

“You alright?” her sister asks. 

“Embarrassed and a little sad, but I’ll be okay.” 

Maggie hugs her and the two sisters stay embraced for a long time, “Don’t stay up too late,” Maggie tells her and it’s only then that she lets go. 

Beth nods and watches as Maggie disappears into the darkness of the hallway. She ends up grabbing a bottled water and making her way back up to her room. It takes a while to fall asleep but when she does Beth dreams of grease stained hands and blue eyes like a cloudless day. 

A week later she and Maggie are driving back to their house from their favorite diner when the car starts sputtering. Maggie makes a frustrated sound as the car lurches and Beth asks, “Has this been happening lately?” 

Maggie nods, “I just thought I could put it off for a little longer, you don’t mind if we stop by the shop do you? Just to make sure it’s nothing too serious?” 

Of course Beth minds. She’s wearing a pair of ratty cutoffs and an old shirt that used to belong to Shawn, not how she wants to be seen at the scene of her epic fail, but Maggie’s car is more important than her feelings so she puts on a fake smile and says, “No, I don’t mind.” 

They barely pull up to Dale’s shop before the car sputters its last breath and completely gives out. Maggie lets out a long weary sigh like she’d been expecting it but still gets out of the car, Beth following behind her. Maggie walks into the office like she owns the place and asks for Dale, there’s a blond, skinny man inside and he points towards the back. 

“He’s helping Daryl out with somethin,’” he says then walks outside, presumably to tell the owner that he has some customers waiting for him. 

The door opens and Dale walks in, Daryl behind him and Beth does everything in her power not to look at him. Maggie goes on to explain her car troubles, expressing her ill feelings towards American made cars. 

“Well I’m sure that whatever it is, we can get it fixed for ya,” Dale says, a bright smile on his weathered face. 

“This wouldn’t have happened if you came in earlier,” Beth mutters, earning a glare from Maggie. 

“ _ You say somethin’? _ ” Daryl asks and Beth freezes. Her eyes drifted to where he’s standing and he’s giving her the same look he did when she came in by herself. He looks confused and he’s still scowling as he waits for an answer. 

Dale chuckles, “Sorry Beth, Daryl’s a bit hard of hearing, you’re going to have to speak louder and slower if you want him to hear you.” 

Beth’s eyes go big, it can’t be, can it? Could she have said his words and he simply didn’t hear her. Or maybe Dale was playing a joke, maybe something to do with his ‘old age.’ 

Daryl scoffs, “I’m not dumb just deaf, she don’t gotta slow down if she don’t want to.” 

He tells Dale he’s going to have some of the other guys help him push the car inside and Beth watches as he walks away. He said her words,  _ he said her words _ , Daryl Dixon said her words. But maybe she hadn’t said his, it’s known to have happened once or twice. She has to know, she can’t let this go, not when it could mean her life changing. 

Beth walks outside, they’ve already pushed the car into the covered top and she spots Daryl by a coke machine near the back. This time she doesn’t hesitate, simply walks right to him and says, “Can I speak with you?” she motions towards the other side of the garage where nobody is at and where they can at least have the illusion of privacy. He doesn’t respond but follows her instead. Beth turns to him and asks, “Do you have a soulmark?” 

She notices that he shifts slightly to the left, his good ear, “Yeah,” he rasps, “Why?” 

Beth nods and without warning lifts her shirt up as high as she can without accidentally exposing herself, “Is this your handwriting?” 

Daryl’s face is as red as a ripe tomato and he’s trying unsuccessfully not to look at her bare skin but his eyes keep drifting and Beth almost stomps her foot, “Look closely!” 

Something in her tone lights a fire under him and he steps closer, bends down and traces the words with a calloused finger, she can feel his breath on her skin and a couple of the other guys in the garage are looking over, more than a little bit curious, so Beth swiftly pulled her top down, almost smacks Daryl in the face while doing so. 

“Yeah,” he breathes out, “them’s my words.” 

“Let me see yours,” Beth responds, she doesn’t ask nor she demands, but her tone leaves no room for argument. Daryl lifts his shirt a little and Beth can see a tuft of hair running down his stomach towards his crotch, he pulls on his pants, tugging them down and right there by the v between his torso and thigh are her words, her handwriting. She lets out a shaky laugh but Daryl doesn’t look convinced. 

“I didn’t know you were partially deaf,” she tells him, “Remember that day I came in and you looked at me like I was crazy?” 

“You said this?” he asks, pointing to her loopy handwriting. 

She nods, “You must not have heard me.” 

Daryl lets his shirt fall back down, he chews on his lower lip and looks at her from beneath his hair, “Well, damn.” 

Beth smiles with the side of her mouth, shyly, as she steps closer to him, she rises on her tiptoes and kisses his right cheek, Daryl stills beneath her but one of his hands comes up to cup her arm. He’s sweet and Beth wants to be his forever. 

“Daryl Dixon, I’ll love you till the day I die,” she whispers, her lips brushing against his stubble. Beth falls back on her heels and giggles at his confused expression, she grabs one of his hands and squeezes. 

“I’ll tell you one day,” she reassures, and Daryl grins in response. 

**Author's Note:**

> Another soulmate trope fic! I love writing these. Also I basically got this idea from It’s A Wonderful Life and that wonderful line at the beginning that I stole 😊


End file.
